NAMES

SEAWISE GIANT (HAPPY GIANT) (JAHRE
VIKING) (KNOCK NEVIS) (MONT)

CLASS

ULTRA LARGE CRUDE CARRIER

ENT/SERVICE

1981

BUILT

SUMITOMO OPPAMA SHIPYARD / JAPAN

WEIGHT

260,851 TONS

LENGTH

1,504 FEET

WIDTH

226 FEET

SPEED

15 KNOTS

PROPELLERS

1- 30 FEET DIAMETER 5 BLADES

ENGINES

1 - STEAM TURBINE 2 STAGE REDUCTION
GEAR - 50,000 HP

Seawise Giant was the largest ship
built in the 20th Century with a volume of
260,851 Gross Registered Tons. As oil tankers
have to be built with double hulls since the
Exxon Valdez spillage in Alaskan waters March
27th 1989, it is unlikely any new tankers will
exceed this size. The next type of vessel that
could eventually exceed the tonnage of
SeawiseGiant is a floating city.
A few of these ships could soon become a
reality as some have already been designed.

Construction of this oil tanker began in
1979 for a Greek shipping magnate. As a result
of the oil embargo in the 1970s, the original
owner was declared bankrupt before his ship
could be completed. This led to the Hong Kong
shipping magnate Mr. C. Y. Tung buying the
incomplete ship under an agreement the builders
would increase its length so the Dead Weight
Tonnage (full load) could be increased from
480,000 to 564,763 tons.

The image below is courtesy of
PhotoFlite, stockist of high resolution ship
images. Website: www.fotoflite.com. Click on
image to enlarge.

Seawise Giant was first operated in the Gulf
of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. She was later
transferred to the Persian Gulf to be used for
exporting oil from Iran. While SeawiseGiant was traveling through the Hormus
Straits in 1986, during the Iran/Iraq war, she was
attacked by Iraqi jets and hit with Exocet
missiles. The extensive damage caused by these
attacks led to her sinking in shallow waters at
Kharg Island.

A few months after the end of the Iran-Iraq War,
August 1988, Norman International bought
Seawise Giant, had her refloated, repaired
by the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, and renamed
her Happy Giant. The prestige of owning
the world’s largest ship seems to have been
the main reason this company made the purchase.

By 1999 she had been sold to the Norwegian
company Jahare Wallem to be operated under the name
Jahre Viking. This ship is so large, four
football fields could be laid end to end on her
deck, braking distance is about three and a half
miles and fully loaded she sits 80 feet in the
water.

The Oppama shipyard was established in the early
1970s as a large modern yard with a building dock
1,800 feet long, 260 feet wide and 41 feet deep for
the construction of ultra large tankers and
bulkers. On June 1st 1997, the Oppama yards name
was changed to Yokosuka. Although they are unlikely
to build any more ships as large as SeawiseGiant, they still build large tankers and
bulkers.

C. Y. Tung was born in Shanghai/China in 1912.
His interest in shipping began when he found work
as a shipping clerk in 1930. Tung fled with his
family to Hong Kong after the communists were
victorious in the Chinese Civil War 1945-1949. By
1970, he had become one of the worlds leading
independent ship owners operating a fleet of more
than 150 ships. As well as owning the world’s
largest ship SeawiseGiant, he also
bought the world’s largest Trans Atlantic
liner QueenElizabeth in 1970. C. Y.
Tung died April 15th 1982 aged 71. As his son Tung
Chee-Hwa took control of the company at that time,
he became one of Hong Kong’s most influential
businessmen. This led to him taking over as chief
executive of Hong Kong when Britain handed the
island back to China July 1st 1997.

In March 2004, Jahre Viking was sent by
its new owner, First Olsen Tankers, to the Dubai
drydocks to be refitted as a floating storage and
offloading unit. Under the name Knock
Nevis, she began operating at the Al Shaheen
oilfield in waters of Qatar.

In December 2009, this vessel was sold to Indian
breakers and renamed Mont for her final
journey. After clearing Indian customs, she was
intentionally beached in India for ship breaking.
She was photographed beached for scrapping at
Alang, India on 4 January 2010. Ship Breaking
Information.

The first four double hull tankers over 400,000
tons were built for the Hellespont Shipping
Corporation of Greece in 2000 with all being
registered under the Marshall Islands. The first of
these sisters at 442,000 dwt, the MV Hellespont
Alhambra, was registered with the Marshall
Islands on March 7th 2002, with the Hellespont
Metropolis following on June 3rd. The last two
sister ships in the series, the Hellespont
Fairfax and Hellespont Tara joined
the Marshall Islands register later that year.